The Democracy Campaign today issued an analysis of contributions from Wisconsin donors to so-called "527s," the unregulated political groups that can raise and spend unlimited amounts of money to influence state and national elections.

A couple of things stand out in our findings. First, these outfits don’t appeal to the masses for financial support. A total of 346 Wisconsin donors have given a record $1.5 million to 527s so far in the 2008 election cycle. Second, these elite donors are clearly betting on the Democrats in this year’s elections, as Democratic 527s received nearly three-quarters of all donations from Wisconsin contributors.

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For the first time in state history, a sitting member of the state Supreme Court has been found guilty of judicial misconduct. And for the first time, the high court is disciplining one of its own.

The justices harshly judged Annette Ziegler, using unusually strong language to condemn her conduct. They called her violations of the judicial ethics code "willful" but then went easy on her when it came to punishment because her actions were deemed "inadvertent."

Now there’s a concept. Willful inadvertence.

To read the Democracy Campaign’s take on yesterday’s decision, go here. For some of the newspaper coverage, go here and here. For a sampling of radio coverage go here and for TV coverage go here. For some initial editorial reaction, go here.

Wisconsin Democracy Campaign

Wisconsin Democracy Campaign is working for a real democracy that allows the common good to prevail over narrow interests. We track the money in state politics and fight for campaign finance and other democracy reforms. WDC is a tax-exempt 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization, and charitable contributions supporting our work are fully tax deductible when you itemize.